Athletics has become an integral part of society, with multiple television channels dedicated to sporting events, with professional athletes promoting all sorts of products, and with the public holding star athletes—both amateur and professional—in high regard, so as to support financial rewards such as college scholarships, sponsorship opportunities, and other revenue-generating careers. Millions of people watch professional and collegiate athletic events on any given night, and hundreds of millions watch major events like the Super Bowl, Final Four, the soccer World Cup, and other championships.
Such broadcasts of events are often accompanied by limited information about the event, such as presented in a scoreboard area in a corner of the screen or along a top or bottom edge of the screen. The information typically includes the current score, the time remaining, the period, timeouts remaining, and event-specific information such as the presence of a flag in football, and the down and yardage in football. Live commentators also frequently comment on the skill level of a particular sports move, such as by showing a slow-motion replay and commenting about a player's “quick first step,” or “smooth release,” or other similar subjective observations made by the commentator about a particular interesting play (e.g., a scoring play or turnover).